Thursday, 28 April 2011

A couple of Meerkat moments captured here in the warm spring sunshine - to share with you. These endearing little faces are eternally popular with our Park guests – and with all the Keepers!

The colours and textures of our ‘Meerkat Madness’ enclosure closely resemble the natural sub-Saharan desert landscapes inhabited by Meerkats in the wilds of Southern Africa.

Why not bring your camera to the Park and enter our 2011 Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition? It’s great fun and there’s plenty of hands-on opportunities with animals and birds who are available for a close-up, natural pose! For more details check out our website on the Competitions and Quizzes page - http://www.seaviewwildlife.com/competitions.htm.

Seaview Wildlife Encounter: “This was our favourite of the attractions on the Isle of Wight, because there’s much more for kids to do – Flea got to feed penguins and wallabies, handle snakes, cockroaches and lizards, and there’s a great pets area where kids can handle small animals. There’s a lovely lake area where you can feed all sorts of water fowl, and to top it off, the whole park is set in lovely green surroundings, making it a great place to spend a day”.

Thank you Fiona Healey and all at Five By Five – glad you had such a great time with us – hope to see you again soon!

OUR TOP 20 TIPS FOR YOU TO ENJOY EASTER!

“Best zoo:The Seaview Wildlife Encounter park on the Isle of Wight’s east coast (PO34 5AP, 01983 612261) has won many awards for being nothing like a traditional zoo, with waterfalls, lakes and a stunning view across the Solent. Help feed the penguins, wander with the wallabies, meet the mischievous meerkats and, this weekend, try its Easter Wildlife Quiz Trail. Open 10am – 5pm, family ticket £29.50.”

For our friends out there, old and new, who weren’t able to be here for Easter – we truly hope you’ll be visiting us soon.

Why not spend the day with us on May 7th for the launch of the Island’s Walking Festival? There’ll be all the usual events as well as two guided tours of the Park, face-painting, specialist stalls, live music …… and our own extra special celebrity star to open the Walking Event at midday …. Dippy the Penguin! All this for a special one-off entrance fee of only £5.00 per person! See you soon!

I am writing to say thank you so much again for the fantastic day I had on Friday and also for the lovely blog entry which I have just found. It was so exciting to be able to be so close to the animals and it has given me so many brilliant memories which I have been thinking about constantly since Friday!

I was wondering if you have time, whether you could please email me the rest of the pictures you took during the day as I would love to be able to have all of them?

Saturday, 23 April 2011

It seems that one day of being a ‘Keeper for a Day’ just isn’t enough for Denise Gormer as we welcome her to join the Animal Care Team once again!

Administration worker, Denise has visited the Park many times and in fact was only spotted last week feeding the Penguins with our other visitors!

It’s becoming apparent to Denise that she would perhaps like a change of career, so when her Husband offered to treat her to yet another chance to become a Keeper for a day she jumped at the chance!

So for as quick as it took Skipper, one of our cheeky Humboldt Penguins, to swallow a sprat, Denise was getting stuck back into being a day as a Keeper and even had time to overcome one of her fears of Snakes….

Although our Mischievous Meerkats were a little timid, judging by Denise’s bubbly enthusiasm for the Park and all it’s animals I don’t think it will long before we welcome her back!

Friday, 22 April 2011

Why don’t you hatch a plan and come on down to the wildest, most egg-citing place in town!

This Easter from Good Friday to Easter Monday the Park is hosting ‘The Great Mystery Quiz Trail’ Collect your free entry form at the park entrance. Hunt for all the hidden wildlife clues whilst joining in with the nine daily wildlife talks and events.

Free delicious creamy Easter egg if you discover all the answers – the star prize is a giant basket full of of egg-cellent Easter goodies!

The catering department has been awarded five stars for two consecutive years and we pride ourselves on high standards not only within our catering division but throughout all sectors of the business.

Do you have the skills to work in a fun, fast paced environment surrounded by a vast array of wonderful birds and animals?

We have a vacancy for a catering assistant for the 2011 season. No cooking involved but the successful candidate will need to deliver exceptionally high standards of customer service, maintaining high levels of cleanliness within this department with a positive, flexible approach. Previous catering experience an advantage.

Tuesday, 19 April 2011

Casey Osborne (left) and Sarah Hurford (above) are both ‘Work Experience Students’ from different colleges who chose Seaview Wildlife Encounter this year as their venue of choice for gaining their practical training, skills and experience – a crucial part of their their diploma/degree courses in Animal Management.

We’re only able to offer a select few Work Experience students a place with us each year. Casey and Sarah’s assignments just happen to have overlapped by a day or two so I took the opportunity to capture an image of both of them (left) with Dippy and a younger Penguin joining in!

On behalf of all the Team at the Park we hope that Casey has enjoyed his time with us and wish him all the best with his future studies.

A warm welcome is extended to Sarah! We trust that the next two weeks will be fun and educational and that the Work Experience Assignment at Seaview Wildlife is all that Sarah is hoping for!

Don’t forget to tune in to Isle of Wight Radio each morning this week to enter our “CALL OF THE WILD” competition! Every morning up to, and including, Good Friday, a recording of one of our animals or birds at Seaview Wildlife will be played for you to guess what it is ….. the first person to phone in to IOW Radio with the correct answer will win a complimentary family ticket for entry into the Park! So go on, listen tomorrow morning at about 8.15am and get phoning!

Saturday, 16 April 2011

Nineteen year old student Jessica Woodward from Newport was our second Keeper for a Day this week!

Jessica has been to the Park many times before but having seen a ‘Keeper for a Day’ enjoying the experience of Zoo Keeping last year, Jessica decided it would make the perfect birthday gift from her parents!

As you can see it didn’t take long for Jessica to befriend our well known Humboldt penguins Dippy and Humphrey…..

But not before feeding Horace, Doris and Moris, our Pink Backed Pelicans….

And making friends with Kaiser, our Californian King Snake!

Although Jessica is currently studying Foreign Languages at University, after describing her day as ‘wonderful’ I have a feeling Jessica’s career path may change in due course…I think the contagious smile says it all!

Tuesday, 12 April 2011

Sue Betts joined us as a ‘Keeper for a Day’ today. This was a birthday present from her partner, Ian.

Sue lives in Binstead on the Isle of Wight and has been a regular visitor to the Park over many years.

What a wonderful sunny spring day to be ‘behind the scenes’ and working outdoors with all our special animals!

Sue was a pleasure to have with us, she was full of smiles and enthusiasm!

At the end of her day today I asked Sue about her day: “I enjoyed every bit of it; it was lovely” She then went on to say “Today was the day I overcame my fear of snakes and cockroaches!”

I asked Sue what her favourite moments were – she said she enjoyed it all, but was particularly keen to have a photo with the Penguins. So here we are Sue – this captures one of your magic moments with Dippy!

We’re looking forward to seeing Sue and her family when they some to visit us all again later in the season.

Thursday, 7 April 2011

The Animal Care Team are thrilled at the new hatchling that appeared from behind the pampas grass with the parent birds this morning – a Hawaiian Gosling (otherwise known as a Nene Gosling).

Hawaiian Geese (Branta sandvicensis) are among the most isolated, sedentary and threatened of all waterfowl (it is the sixth most endangered waterfowl species in the world). They previously bred on all or most of the Hawaiian Islands, but are now restricted to Hawaii, Kauai and Maui. Females typically nest on the ground and lay an average of 3 eggs. Sometimes called “Nene” these are unique among geese in that they are not normally observed near water. The reduced webbing on their feet is an adaptation to their rugged upland habitat.

I know, you don’t have to say it …. Sally doesn’t look a day over 60 …. only kidding! Our lovely Gift Shop Manager, Sally Sheridan (who often reminds me of Goldie Hawn) celebrated her half century (and not out) this week.

To commemorate her special day Sally was presented with a cake bearing the image of Elvis (her favourite feathered friend here at the Park).

Sally is a very popular member of the Seaview Wildlife Team. She lifts spirits and puts a smile on everyone’s faces – so this comes with big congratulations and a huge hug from all her friends (human and animal) here at the Park!

We were pleased to welcome Glyn Taylor from Isle of Wight Radio back to Seaview Wildlife this morning. He was here to do some ‘sound bytes’ for a new promotion that will be running on IOW Radio the week commencing Monday 18th April (in the lead-up to Easter).

The image on the left shows Glynn ‘interviewing’ a Wallaby – but beware – this is not a clue for the upcoming competition!

After the recordings were complete, Glyn, Lorraine and I sat outside on one of our cafe’s outdoor patios to complete our discussions – and what a beautiful day for an al fresco meeting! Spring at its very best!

Thank you Glyn for sharing some special time with us …….

For our Blog readers – don’t forget to tune in to IOW Radio at 8.10am Mon–Thurs (18 – 28 April) and an hour later on Good Friday! Each day there’s a family ticket into the Park being given away to the first person who correctly identifies the animal or bird sound clip – so listen in and give it a go!

Wednesday, 6 April 2011

In 2010, two Islanders, Doug Barber and his neighbour Felicity (Fliss) Farnham, organised a Scarecrow Festival for the Isle of Wight parish of Gatcombe and Chillerton. Little did they know that they would end up winning a coveted GOLD award in the “Access for All” category of Tourism South East’s Beautiful South Awards for Excellence!

An incredible 97 Scarecrows participated in this event! A select few are coming to visit Seaview Wildlife Encounter – to help promote some important festivities – family fun days over the Easter Weekend (22-25 April), the launch of the Isle of Wight Walking Festival (7th May) and the celebration of the Park’s 40th Anniversary (1971 – 2011).

It just goes to show how imaginative people can be – these images show a sample of the creativity and sense of community that the villagers of Gatcombe and Chillerton have shown by embracing this event!

The 2011 Scarecrow Festival is scheduled to take place from Saturday 28th May until Saturday 4th June at Gatcombe and Chillerton – in the interim come and join in the fun with some of these Scarecrow characters at Seaview Wildlife Encounter! (They’re due to arrive just before the Easter Weekend, to stay until after the start of the Walking Festival on 7th May).

Monday, 4 April 2011

According to those in the know, this year’s opening for the 2011 season has been the calmest, smoothest and most successful ever! Thank you to all the team for their hard work in bringing the Park back to life ready for our opening day on Saturday 2nd April.

After all the bustling preparations in the weeks leading up to this weekend it was definitely all worthwhile! The Park is looking lovely – the grounds are bursting into new growth and spring life - almost as though the plants knew it was time to show off their splendour for the first of our 2011 visitors. The free-roaming ducks and geese gathered round eagerly to greet the first visitors, anticipating grain being thrown in their direction – whoever said birds had ‘bird brains’?!

Some of our special happenings this weekend included:

Right on cue ducklings hatched ready for the start of the Easter holidays!

The Whittington family (who recently donated two adorable Miniature Pigs to the Park) came to visit their ‘boys’!

Our cafe/catering division has been awarded a five star food hygiene rating for the second consecutive year (an exceptional achievement that many top restaurants and hotels have not come close to!)

Our new Discovery Zone / Education Centre is in its final stages of metamorphosis having undergone an exciting overhaul this winter - with beautiful new display areas being completed for both the Leaf-Cutting Ants and the Harvest Mice.

So what are you waiting for? Come on down to the wildest place for a great day out …… this Easter, this summer, this year!